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Sunday, 13 August 2017

Iran's parliament votes to boost military defence by $500m

Iran's parliament has voted in favour of boosting investment in its missile defence and foreign operations programmes by more than $500m (£386m).

The bill, which received overwhelming approval, is in response to the latest round of US sanctions against Tehran.

The US imposed sanctions after a ballistic missile test in January.

Tehran says this violates the 2015 nuclear deal, which US President Donald Trump has called "the worst ever" and threatened to tear up.

The Iranian legislation must pass a second vote before submission for final approval.

Iranian MPs shouted "death to America" after Speaker Ali Larijani announced the result of the vote.

Of the members present, 240 parliamentarians out of 244 voted in favour of passing the bill.

It proposes that the government allocates an additional $260m for the "development of the missile programme" and the same amount to Iran's Quds Force, a branch of the country's Revolutionary Guards Corps, the official state news agency Irna said.

Mr Larijani said the move was meant to counter Washington's "terrorist and adventurist activities" in the Middle East, AFP news agency reports.